King For A Day
by shantella1987
Summary: A case of mistaken identity has some serious repercussions for the Doctor, Rose and Mickey. [ON HIATUS]
1. Chapter 1

**This is a story that I almost forgot about that I had sitting on the hard drive of my old laptop. I've wanted to write an adventure including Mickey for a long while and this is the result.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **As always: I don't own Doctor Who, but the aliens mentioned in this story are from an old original story of mine that I've re-purposed for this one.**

* * *

Mickey's head was buzzing. He suspected he was hungover. He carefully made his way down to the TARDIS kitchen (which he swore was a good deal closer to his room the other day) to make himself a nice strong cup of tea.

He wasn't at all acclimated to life on this strange ship. Night and day seemed to blur together; there were no clocks around to tell you what time it was. It was a strange irony seeing that this was a time machine.

He finally stumbled into the kitchen, the bright lights making him squint. He registered Rose sitting at the small table sipping away at her mug of tea. She smiled brightly at him and he mustered up the strength to smile back. A quiet cuppa with Rose sounded perfect right now. He hadn't had much time alone with her since he came aboard. Their adventures with the clockwork robots didn't really count in his mind. They were too busy trying to stay alive!

But they weren't alone.

"Mornin', Ricky!" A male voice boomed happily behind him, followed by a good-natured slap on the shoulder. Mickey nearly jumped out of his skin. Then he sighed. Oh course, wherever Rose was, the Doctor was never far behind. Those two were practically inseparable.

"Watch it…" Mickey grumbled as he sank into a chair next to Rose. His head hurt too much to even point out that the Doctor got his name wrong… again. He knew it was just good-natured teasing, although it didn't start that way. Back when the Doctor spoke with a Northern accent, it sounded almost malicious, now the words didn't have the same sting. But it still got on his nerves. He felt a bit better when Rose put her hand on his back and started rubbing small circles into it.

"You all right?" She asked. Mickey shook his head. "Hangover?" He nodded. This resulted in the Doctor chuckling into his tea.

"Look, I warned you about having too many of those Triaxillan ales!" His face broke out into a wide grin. "How much of last night do you remember?" Mickey squinted even more trying to look up at the Doctor. Rose looked up at him too, trying to contain her own giggles. She knew where the Doctor was going with this. Mickey tried to concentrate on what happened the night before and found it quite hazy. He remembered entering the tavern with the Doctor and Rose. There was something going on inside that the Doctor had explained was like Karaoke back on Earth, in fact there was a selection of "classic" Earth music to sing along to. He remembered ordering his first drink, but after that…

"Don't remember much." Mickey finally admitted. The Doctor and Rose were now roaring with laughter. It made his head hurt even more than it already did. Rose jumped up and sidled up beside the Doctor as he pulled what looked like a video camera out of the pocket of his pinstriped jacket. They focused their attention on the small screen, and Mickey began hearing the _WORST_ rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody he had ever heard in his life. Then it dawned on him.

"Wait… that's… that's…!" He stuttered. Rose had her head buried in the Doctor's shoulder, trying to stifle her laughter.

"Yup!" The Doctor laughed, popping the 'p'. "Once you got it in your mind you wanted to sing, weeell, we couldn't stop you!" He focused on the screen once more and bubbled over with more laughter. He gripped Rose's shoulder to try and keep himself steady. Mickey's face flushed with embarrassment and he lay his head down on the table.

"Can _someone_ just get me a cup of tea…?" Rose took some pity for him, and went to the stove to retrieve the kettle.

"We are _soooo_ showing that to mum next time we visit!" She giggled with her tongue wedged firmly between her teeth, beaming away at the Doctor.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" The Doctor laughed as he pocketed the camera. "We can't just keep this to ourselves! YouTube! The worlds just gotta hear how _beautifully_ Mickey Smith can sing!" The large lump of a human groaned in the corner.

"But Doctor that was filmed on an alien planet! Don't you think someone's gonna notice?" Rose poked him in the middle of the chest.

"Nah! Plenty of places look like that!"

"Yes, but humans don't look like big purple… blobs? You got a couple those people in frame, you know!"

"Really?"

"One of them was right in front of us! You couldn't have missed him."

"No, I meant humans looking like big purple blobs. Just last week I saw this bloke and he was just this… OW!" Rose punched him playfully in the arm. "Am I being rude again?" Rose nodded, then gave him another tongue in teeth smile. The Doctor beamed back at her as he rocked back and forth on his heels. Mickey shot them both his best glare.

Could these two flirt later? Or not at all?

"Hello, man needing tea over here!" Mickey shot his arm up in the air like a kid in school. The Doctor looked over at him, almost appearing to notice him for the first time.

"Oh, sorry." The Doctor handed Rose a mug from the cupboard behind him, then he immediately sprinted from the room as alarm bells started ringing in the direction of the console room. Rose almost slammed the mug onto the counter as she sprinted away after him.

Mickey still sat at the table staring at the open door. _'Typical… I'm just an afterthought.'_ He hauled himself to his feet, draining the remaining tea from Rose's mug and running to the console room himself.

"What's going on?" Rose asked the Doctor frantically, with just a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Dunno!" He reached around the time rotor to grab his scanner, in doing so he stepped right into Rose and bumped shoulders. She didn't move away, she was too transfixed by the Gallifreyan words that appeared on the screen. He pulled his glasses out of his pocket, threw them on his face and stared at the screen.

"Well?" Rose prodded him, watching his face twist into a look of intense concentration, with a hint of a grin on his face, the tip of his tongue planted firmly behind his top teeth. The more trouble they found themselves in, the more filled with glee he seemed to become. It just radiated off of him and Rose found herself hard pressed not to start smiling even during the most dangerous times. The time rotor suddenly flared to life.

"Something's drawing the TARDIS off course!" The Doctor frantically reached for some switches on the far side of the console. "Hold on!" Rose was forced to take a step back as he suddenly flung his foot at the console, the rubber tip of his Converse shoe hitting yet another lever. She grabbed onto the railing as the TARDIS pitched wildly to the side. Mickey stumbled and fell into the nearby jump seat, clinging to the tattered fabric for dear life. The Doctor continued his contortionist act as he tried desperately to regain some measure of control over his precious ship. He frantically pointed to a lever beyond his reach and Rose flipped it without any sign of hesitation. A panel started throwing electrical sparks. He grabbed one of his mallets hanging nearby and hit it until the sparking ceased. Then as suddenly as it started, the time rotor stopped.

"Well… we've landed." The Doctor took his foot off the console and stood up straight. He held his hand out to Rose who had stumbled and fell during their rocky trip through the Time Vortex. She took it gratefully and allowed him to lift her to her feet.

"You alright?" She smiled at him indicating she was not hurt. He smiled back and gripped her hand a little tighter.

"So, where are we exactly?" Mickey asked. The Doctor spun around with a surprised look on his face.

Oh, right. Mickey was still here!

He released Rose's hand and grabbed his long brown coat that was hung haphazardly on one of the coral columns and threw it on.

"Let's go find out!" he smiled at his friends as he adjusted the collar of his coat making a wild dash to the door.

"But I'm still in my pajamas!" Mickey hollered at them as they disappeared outside. The Doctor poked his head back in and gave him a quick appraising glance.

"Oh, just hurry up, will you! Shift!" He barked impatiently and retreated outside once again.

OoOoO

Rose was completely entranced by the sights in front of her. They had landed on a hillside overlooking a grand city. The sky was dark, but the city was glistening with thousands of lights that made it look like it was comprised of stars.

"It's so pretty." She breathed as she hugged the Doctor's arm still gazing at the city below them.

"Yeah." He wasn't even looking at this city, just the fair-haired girl who was standing so close to him. He smiled as he leaned into her slightly. She looked up at him and smiled back. He cleared his throat, realising he'd been staring (again) and focused his attention on the city below them. He traced the skyline with his eyes then looked up at the stars to get a further bearing on their location. He did a quick calculation in his head.

"This is the year 6,892. We're on the planet Katoria Prime, and that is their capital city of Reynos." He made a grand gesture with his free hand.

"Why would the TARDIS bring us here? Not that I'm complaining. That city looks gorgeous!" Rose couldn't tear her eyes away from the sparkling spires. The Doctor shrugged.

"I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. But we need to be careful." Rose looked up at him, her brow knitted together.

"You? Careful? That I'd _love_ to see." She chuckled as she elbowed him in the ribs. He shot her a long-suffering look as he wriggled out of her grasp and turned to face her fully.

"Rose Tyler! I'm always careful."

"Is that why you fly the TARDIS with your feet and a mallet?"

"I get us where we need to be!" He pouted at her in mock-exasperation. She crossed her arms at him her eyebrows shooting upwards, that adorable tongue in teeth smile. "Well… ah… usually." He tugged at his earlobe absently. "But seriously, we need to be careful. The Katorians are generally friendly, but they've gotten a bit more militaristic the last few years. They don't always take too kindly to alien visitors. Something drew the TARDIS here and until we figure out what that is we best be careful." He looked back at the blue, smaller on the outside Police box just as Mickey was emerging wearing clothing more befitting a walk outside than fuzzy slippers and oversized T-shirts would. The Doctor pointed in that general direction. "Maybe we should keep _that_ out of sight as well. Don't want to be alarming them." Mickey only caught the last two sentences and looked at the Doctor in horror.

"What? I'm not even a person anymore?! I'm the Tin Dog all over again!" Mickey hollered. The Doctor blinked in confusion.

"I'm sorry? What? You don't look anything like K-9. He was a lot cuter." Rose rolled her eyes. The Doctor was being so thick, and Mickey so insecure, but equally thick.

"He meant the TARDIS, Mickey." Rose clarified, hoping to defuse the situation before it got any worse. "The Doctor thinks it'll make the locals nervous." Mickey seemed to relax a bit, but still couldn't look the Doctor in the eye. Then a thought occurred to Rose.

"Wait a minute, Doctor. I thought you said the TARDIS was designed to be unnoticeable."

"Well usually she is, but sometimes people take notice. Remember the Nesteen Consciousness? Well, how could you not? That's how we met! Grabbed your hand, told you to run, just before that Auton chopped you in half! And people call _me_ rude!" The Doctor smiled heartily at Rose. Mickey shuddered at the memory. "Anyway, the Nesteen found the TARDIS a threat and wanted to destroy it. Same thing could happen here. There are some paranoid people living on this world. These people have had some terrible wars. Not as bad as the Time War, but still... I can't have the TARDIS falling into the wrong hands. But I have an idea." He bounced on his heels. "Wait here you're gonna love this!" He turned towards the TARDIS so fast that his coat-tails swirled around him and ran back in and only stopped when he reached the console. He started flipping switches and pressing buttons as Rose and Mickey watched from outside. The Blue Box began to shimmer, almost as if it was dematerialising, but the time rotor was silent. The shimmering faded, and all they could see of the TARDIS was the console room through the still open door.

"Cool! Cloaking device!" Mickey was thoroughly impressed.

"Oh yes!" The Doctor crowed, grinning from ear to ear as he sauntered back out to his friends. He closed the door behind him and the TARDIS disappeared completely. "Let's just remember where we parked. I don't want what happened at Earl's Court to happen again!"

"What happened there?" Mickey innocently asked.

"Long story."

"Ooh, I know how we can remember!" Rose piped up. She picked up four small stones and walked back to where the TARDIS stood. She made a slight miscalculation and bumped into it causing the outer shell to shimmer for a moment before becoming completely invisible again, but eventually managed to place each stone at the corners.

"Rose Tyler have I ever told you how brilliant you are?" The Doctor was beaming at her. Rose grinned back.

"Why thank you!" She put on her most posh voice and did a mock courtesy. Mickey chuckled too, but with a little less mirth. All this flirting under his nose was starting to get a bit stale for his tastes.

"Come on then, comrades!" The Doctor clasped one arm around Rose's shoulder and the other around Mickey's they took a few steps forward but then halted when the Doctor got lost in thought. "Comrades? No that _still_ doesn't sound right… amigos? Nah. Mates? Ugh, no! Someone may get the wrong connotation. Slang may be different here…" He suddenly realised that the humans standing beside him were giving him strange looks. He sighed as he began walking again. "Okay then, you two, let's go explore that city!"

OoOoO

The three time travellers eventually found themselves on a paved road heading into the city. They passed a few of the local inhabitants along the way. Rose noted that they looked very similar to Humans (or the Time Lord in their midst) except they all had these dark, scaly stripes along the backs of their necks and arms. Everyone's hair was exceedingly long and most of them had it tied back into tight braids and their colour ranged from black to bright auburn. A few of them seemed to stare at Rose's hair, but the Doctor explained that blonde was not a colour usually seen on this planet, and seen as a rare display of beauty. Quite a few more seemed to physically gasp at Mickey's appearance.

"Let me guess, on this planet my skin colour isn't common either?" Mickey half joked. The Doctor shrugged.

"Actually, here it's just as common as it is on your world. See?" He gestured to a couple sitting at what looked to be a café with the same chocolate complexion as Mickeys.

"Then why are people staring at me like that?" Mickey caught a young child staring, but she quickly looked away when she met his gaze. "It's kinda getting creepy." Before he could get an answer, a small round robot about the size of a football floated up to them and hovered about a foot away from the Doctor's face. He blinked as a bright green light shone on his face for a moment and the robot made a humming noise briefly. The light shut off abruptly.

"Identification please." Came a mechanical voice from the round robot. The Doctor fished the psychic paper out of his pocket and held it up to where he suspected the robot's eye was.

"I'm the Doctor, and these two are my friends: Rose Tyler and Mickey Smith." The Time Lord grinned manically as he gestured to his companions in turn. The robot floated away from the Doctor and scanned Rose then moved on to Mickey. Things changed abruptly when it scanned Mickey's face. The green light switched to red.

"Error: You are not Mickey Smith." The robot droned. He blinked.

"Course I am!" He rooted through his pockets, retrieved his wallet and held out his driver's license in the same manner as the Doctor used the psychic paper. The robot scanned the card. "See?"

"Negative: You are not Mickey Smith."

"Then who the hell am I?"

"You are Lord Kraverst."

"Who?"

He didn't receive and answer. A bright light suddenly enveloped Mickey. The next thing they knew, the Doctor and Rose were left standing on the street without him with the robot hovering in front of them.

"The Doctor and Rose Tyler; You are under arrest."

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 **Long first chapter is long. Expect more soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

"The Doctor and Rose Tyler; You are under arrest."

Rose reflexively raised her hands as she had done the other dozen or more times she and the Doctor had been arrested. She couldn't even think at this point; she was too worried about Mickey.

The Doctor on the other hand was just standing there with his hands in his pockets looking as calm and collected as could be.

"Oh really? What for?" His tone was conversational, as if discussing the weather.

"You will be formally charged at the Magistrate's office for the kidnapping of Lord Kraverst." The Robot droned on in a tone that reminded the Doctor too much like a Dalek, but he refused to let his ire show.

"Oh, do we have to?" The Doctor whinged as if Rose told him they were going dress shopping with her mum. "I'm sure this Magistrate is a nice bloke, but we had plans! And you transmatting Mickey away, weeeell, that put a spanner into the whole thing. Very rude of you, I must say! And I'll tell you one other thing:" The Doctor took a step closer to the Robot and leaned in to look it in the 'eye', a wicked smile on his face, "This sentence is false!"

The all lights on the robot shut of immediately as it crashed into the ground in a sparking, smoking heap.

The Doctor grabbed one of Rose's raised hands and they began to run in the direction they came from. She immediately fell into step behind him as they wound their way through the streets on the way back towards the TARDIS. It was still early morning and thankfully for them not too many people were out and about yet. They were nearly out of the city when Rose spotted what appeared to be police officers starting to give chase. A blaster bolt struck the ground near her feet, causing the Doctor to put on a bit more speed so he was practically dragging Rose behind him until she gained her footing and matched his speed. He sharply rounded a corner, and another almost immediately after then stopped dead in a doorway semi-hidden in the shadows, pulling Rose flush against him. He let out a quiet laugh as the guards ran right past their hiding spot.

Rose was not amused. She detangled herself from his hold and smacked his shoulder as hard as he could.

"Can we _ever_ land somewhere without there being some sort of trouble?" She whisper-shouted at him.

"Not _my_ fault this time!" He countered a little louder than he intended, rubbing at his sore shoulder.

"Sorry, you're right." Rose sighed as she deflated slightly. "So how come that robot just… exploded like that? And where did it take Mickey?"

"Paradox." The Doctor grinned like a Cheshire cat. On Rose's confused look he continued: "Y'see, certain A.I. can't help thinking about them, and they quite often take things very literally. Their circuits go into a loop trying to figure it out and 'boom'!" Rose nodded.

"So, you say something more confusing than you normally do,"

"Oi!" She ignored his outburst and continued.

"And they just explode?" He nodded vigorously.

"Basically, yes. Now as for your other question, well…"

"That thing was going to take us to the magistrate's office? You think they took him there?" The Doctor shrugged.

"Possibly. This city's huge, he could be anywhere. But wherever he is, he should be safe. The people here aren't known to be cruel. We should head back to the TARDIS, hopefully from there we can figure out where to go next. But Rose, I swear to you we will get your boyfriend back." Rose shook her head, and suddenly found she couldn't look him in the eye. "What?"

"It's nothing." She sighed and looked up at the brightening sky. The Doctor just cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Rose, c'mon. I think I've gotten to know you better than that." He said gently. She bit her lip and took a steadying breath before continuing.

"He's not my boyfriend anymore."

The Doctor blinked.

"What?!" He shouted, then suddenly realised they were supposed to be hiding. "Since when?"

"Cardiff."

The Doctor mentally kicked himself. He knew Rose was a bit upset when she arrived back on the TARDIS before they took off to take Margret the Slitheen back to Raxacoricofallapatorius, but he never put two and two together. He wasn't all that fond of Mickey back then, only tolerated him for Rose's sake. Didn't treat him much better after regenerating either. He sighed.

"I'm sorry." He said sincerely. Stepping towards Rose and pulling her into the hug she looked like she so desperately needed.

"S'okay." She mumbled into his shoulder. "You didn't know. I never said."

"You okay?" He asked gently. Rose squeezed him just a bit tighter and he felt her nod her head.

"I am now."

The Doctor's hearts warmed just a little more upon hearing that.

"He's still our friend, and I swear to you we'll get him back safe." He reluctantly pulled away from her, happy to see a small smile on her face. He extended his hand to her and smiled back as she took it before they took off running again towards the TARDIS.

OoOoO

There were a couple close calls on their way back, but thankfully no one else ended up seeing them. Rose's trick with placing a stone at the corners of the timeship ended up being a lifesaver as the Doctor, quite predictably, had forgotten where they had parked.

The Doctor ran over to the scanner and began pressing buttons frantically as Rose stood off to the side waiting as patiently as she could. After a few minutes, and smacks to the side of the screen with a dash of swearing under his breath the Doctor frowned.

"Not good?" Rose offered. The Doctor shook his head.

"Human life signs are too similar to Katorians. Plus, there's this." He huffed pointing at the screen. Rose took a step closer to him and followed his finger to where a map of what she assumed was the city they just left was displayed on the screen. But a large section seemed to be blacked out.

"Are they blocking the scanner?" Rose asked as she studied it closely. The Doctor grinned at her, proud of how much she'd picked up while travelling with him.

"Yup!" He affirmed, loudly popping the 'p'. "But something tells me he's being kept in that area. Not many things can interfere with my scanners, well, I say 'not many things'. Strong electrical storms. Some Microwaves, hence the reason I don't keep one in the kitchen." Rose shot him an exasperated look. "Working on it! Anyway, I can't risk taking the TARDIS in there without knowing what's in there."

"Looks like we have to find him on foot." Rose huffed, her feet already a bit sore from their run.

"Looks like!"

"But they know what we look like! And with my hair they'll find us right away."

"Best we keep it out of sight then." Rose just gaped at him.

"I'm not stayin' here!" She said stubbornly.

"Course you're not!" He grinned at her. "Wouldn't dream of leaving you behind. But as you said they know what we look like."

"So what are we gonna do?"

"Well… when in Rome." He replied cryptically as he turned and started to walk deeper into the TARDIS. Rose grinned when she realised what he was referring to.

"You mean I get to see you in something other than pinstripes?"

"Oi! Remember the toga? You couldn't stop staring at my legs!" Rose fought a losing battle against the flush that appeared on her cheeks. "I knew it!" The Doctor laughed as she tried desperately to cover her face.

They spent the next hour or so in the wardrobe picking out clothes to blend in with the local populace. The Doctor ended up in a simple grey tunic with black trousers and comfortable shiny black boots and Rose dressed in a pale pink dress, also paired with comfortable white boots. They both donned wigs styled as the locals to hide their much shorter hair. Hers was a dark chestnut brown to match her dark eyebrows while he had to spend a while matching his eyebrows and sideburns to his wig. Rose couldn't help but laugh when she realised what colour he had given himself. He looked a bit odd with the softer fringe instead of the spiky look he'd been experimenting with, but she couldn't deny that he looked good as a ginger!

They made a quick stop to the med bay where a dermal regenerator was modified to make it appear they had the same skin markings as the Katorians. Rose found it slightly disconcerting and kept scratching at them until the Doctor good-naturedly whacked her hand reminding her that the sooner they found Mickey the sooner they'd go back to normal themselves.

They were just about to leave the TARDIS to begin their search when the Doctor started to hand her a few small objects.

"Now, put this on your left ear." Rose took the strange earring he was offering. It was a silver cuff with a blue jewel attached to a small stud by a delicate chain. She had seen a few of the locals wearing a similar earring but she just took it as a fashion thing. But still she had to ask, especially since the Doctor was attaching a very similar earring to his left ear.

"Why? There any special meaning to it."

She swore the Doctor blushed.

"Erm, well… kinda." He squeaked. "I've set them up as a communications device in case we get separated but – " He trailed off.

"But?" He tugged at his ear, almost dislodging the new adornment.

"Well, on this world, it's not always seen as a good thing for a lady to be walking around on her own. Kind of a throwback to their frankly archaic caste system. The blue jewel actually used to indicate one as a lord or lady, and seeing that we sort of have those titles it seemed kind of fitting. The colours don't really mean anything now, couples can choose any colour they want really and…"

"Couples?!" Rose croaked. The Doctor groaned.

"I _knew_ this was a bad idea!"

"Knew that _what_ was a bad idea?"

"I kinda sort of thought that it would be a practical idea if peoplethoughtweweremarried." He spoke the last few words so quickly that Rose had to pull them apart in her mind. She didn't know whether to laugh at him or slap him. "It would make more sense for a couple of newly weds moving into the city than to say we were cousins or something. People already think that about us already." Rose nodded in agreement.

"Mum'll be disappointed. I mean, first she already thinks we're together, but I didn't even get a proper proposal or ceremony." She deadpanned. The Doctor's face turned crimson.

"Besides," she continued completely ignoring his sputtering and trying to make coherent words with his mouth, "Weren't we already married on that planet where they threw flowers at us? Jack said something about always being a bridesmade."

"That wasn't official!" He burst out.

"Well, c'mon then _darling_. We have a Mickey to save!" Rose flashed her patented grin at him and exited the TARDIS, leaving a thoroughly flustered Doctor behind.

OoOoO

If Mickey thought his hangover was bad before, he wasn't anywhere near prepared for this. His head was throbbing and his mouth felt like something died in it. He blinked his eyes open slowly and found himself lying in a large comfortable bed in a very ornately decorated bedroom. He looked around and found that he was alone, and blessedly still dressed in the same clothes he had on before. He spotted a glass of what he hoped was water siting in the table next to him. He sniffed it carefully and then took a tiny sip and waited a moment. Seemed okay. He greedily drank the rest of the glass and immediately felt slightly better.

He stood up on slightly wobbly legs and explored the room. A mural adorned the entirety of one wall with the words "The Song of Lord Kraverst" in big bold letters at the top in what he knew was an alien language. He took this as a good sign. Rose explained the TARDIS translation circuit to him and how it got inside your brain. So if he was reading these words as English, he knew the TARDIS was nearby.

Mickey started to focus on the painting itself. It looked to tell a story of several battles all fought by a single man. Many of the battles appeared to be brutal conflicts and what could only be described as massacres. Then a big detail seemed to click in his mind. His eyes darted back to the words at the top and his heart almost stopped.

" _The Song of Lord Kraverst"_

That's what the robot had called him! They thought he was this brutal man!

Panicking he bolted to the door only having it open on him. A severe looking woman stood on the other side.

"Ah, my lord! Good to see you up and about. Time to get you ready."

"For what?" Mickey's voice came out as a squeak.

"Why, your coronation, of course!"

 **Dun dun duuuun!**

 **Leave a review on your way out! =D**


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